Restaurant Stocks: Not Looking Appetizing

Investors are pushing away from the table at Cheesecake Factory, Chipotle, McDonald's, and Starbucks.

Even though stocks climbed on Wednesday's Fed decision to begin tapering its bond-buying program, investors might be well served by avoiding the restaurant sector for a while. Restaurant stocks have been lagging for months, and even some of the big winners this year are looking very tired.

The Dow Jones U.S. restaurant and bars index tripled during the bull market from the 2008 low, beating the Standard & Poor's gain of 170% since its own bear market low in 2009. While restaurants paced the S&P 500 for much of the...